


Full Circle to the Truth

by theunknownfate



Category: The X-Files, Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-09 11:50:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1145632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theunknownfate/pseuds/theunknownfate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a kinkmeme prompt:<br/>FBI Agent Walter "Rorschach" Kovacs as the deadly-serious (possibly a little crazy) paranormal investigator whose entire career is a joke among the rest of the FBI. </p><p>Agent Dreiberg gets assigned to investigate the veracity of Agent Kovac's theories, and quickly becomes embroiled in the investigation of events far stranger than he ever could have imagined.</p><p> Title is from an <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/quotes?item=qt0521441">X-Files quote</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The feeling was a familiar one by now. 

Agent Dan Dreiburg sighed as he waited for the elevator. He glanced at the pop machine when the flashing sold out light by the Coke button caught his eye. The morning had gone downhill fast. He had finally been given a real assignment and a partner, just like he had imagined when the Bureau had recruited him. He had been excited, worn his favorite suit and everything, but a quick stop off at the Director's office had turned into a firing squad of cold eyes. Some of them he knew. Some of them he had only heard of. Their news wasn't good. He wasn't being sent to help or discover anything. They just wanted him to sniff out the flaws. He was just the test pilot in a plane they had already decided to scrap.

They hadn't come right out and said so, but the message was clear. He would've recognized it anyway. He had heard it most of his life. His enthusiasm was appreciated, his aptitude acknowledged, his idealism was cautioned, and he was sent on his way with a healthy dose of reality to smother his hopes. 

He got in the elevator, fidgeting self-consciously with his tie. This happened to him every time. He had always given in, compromising when he could. He had wanted to be a pilot, but no, he was too brilliant an engineer to spare from the drawing board. Then, he had been too innovative for practical mechanics, too adventurous for a desk job, and if a banker was out of the question, maybe a doctor would be acceptable. 

Dan had hoped being recruited out of med school would break the cycle, but here it was again. He took a deep breath in the stale elevator. Out with the anger and the frustration. He was about to meet his new partner. His new partner who he was expected to discredit if he wanted to distinguish himself in anyway. The frustration flared again. This was not what he wanted, how he wanted it. 

He hadn't asked for this assignment, but had been honestly excited about it. It had felt like they were just putting him somewhere to get him out of the way until he proved himself, but Dan wasn't a bit resentful. He had been looking forward to being part of something a little less cut and dry. He had already entertained thoughts of maybe finding something that could prove his idealism wasn't misplaced. If there really was something out there that didn't fit into the gray, grim laws of reality, then it could mean that everything didn't have to fit in. It could mean he wasn't the only one. 

The elevator dinged and he took another breath as it slid open. He stepped out and looked around. It was definitely a basement office. Bottom of the totem pole, smoke break with the morlocks, no wonder the elevator had taken so long to get here basement office. It looked damp, but maybe that just the bad light. It smelled dry. There were maps of cities, subways, and sewers, maps of the country, maps of the world all over the walls. There were all marked with red ink or pushpins. Memos and notes were on ever surface, even the empty desk Dan assumed would be his. The tiny trash can was overflowing with Coke cans. That explained the light on the machine. 

"Hello?" Dan called. "Anybody here?"

"Nobody," came a growl from right behind him, making him spin around. "But the FBI's least wanted."


	2. Chapter 2

Dan hadn't been sure what to expect, but the first thing he noticed were the eyes. They burned in the shadows between the stacks where his new partner stood. It had to be the bad light again, but Dan could admit that it was spooky. 

"Agent Kovacs," he said. He felt his face split into a smile and tried to rein it back from goofy. "I'm Dan Dreiberg. I've been assigned to work with you."

He held out a hand. It was ignored. The eyes were still on him. He could almost hear the gears ticking behind them. Dan scrambled for what he knew of Kovacs. Psychologist, profiler, successfully caught serial killers and kidnappers, he was probably profiling Dan right now. Described kindly as intense and more harshly as a lunatic, word was that Kovacs had no sense of humor or any fear of censor. He would stop at nothing and had a file of demerits and demotions a foot thick. He got away with it because he got results, or maybe because he had uncovered dirt on someone higher up. That was all rumor though. 

"Met with the Directors this morning?" Kovacs asked. His voice was a disused rasp but there was no smell of cigarettes on him. He moved slowly, circling Dan to get to his desk and making it feel menacing. "Too new to the Bureau to be punished this severely yet. Unless you messed up bad, early."

"Brand new," agreed Dan, but Kovacs wasn't finished. 

"The only reason they would send you to me," he said, sitting in his chair and turning his back to Dan. "Is to spy on me."

"Actually," Dan said, then stopped. Kovacs' head tilted a fraction, somehow managing to glare with only the corner of his eye. Hell with it, Dan thought. It's not paranoia if it's true. "They expect regular reports on what we find. There are doubts. But," he went on as Kovacs turned another centimeter. "Personally, I would be grateful to find some truth in the world." He took a breath. "I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Truth," Kovacs echoed. The word trailed off. "Open-minded." He said that like an insult. Dan walked over to the other desk and started stacking the papers on them. Kovacs didn't protest so there must not've been an actual system. 

"Why not?" Dan said. "It only takes one." Kovacs finally turned to face him completely. His eyebrows dipped. Dan waved a hand over the files. "Well, I mean, if just one UFO report out of all the hundreds-"

"Thousands."

"-and even if only one is true, then there is life in outer space that can visit us. If just one ghost story out of all of them is true, then there is life after death, and the dead can visit us." Kovacs quirked an eyebrow up.

"Bigfoot," he said, deadly serious.

"I suspect my uncle Ephraim," Dan said before he could stop himself. It was the wrong time to joke, too early to risk offending his partner. He turned his chagrin into an apologetic shrug. "But that only accounts for one sighting." 

"Hunh," Kovacs said, but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards and the line between his brows lightened. He got up quickly and handed a file to Dan. Immediately inside were pictures of dead dogs. Could've warned me, Dan thought, but didn't flinch. The dogs heads had been split from their eyes down their backs. The notes said that their spinal columns had been removed. Dan had heard all about body parts being harvested in med school, but those were from humans and lab animals intended for research. These were obviously pets. Worse still, they had been killed on what looked like kitchen linoleum. 

"Upstate. Three weeks ago," he said aloud. "Why dogs?" 

"Hard to photograph what isn't there," Kovacs grunted. "Girl who owns them disappeared the night it happened." Dan met his eyes, refusing to back down from the fire there. "Until last night."

"Her spine gone too?" Dan asked, closing the file. 

"We'll see," Kovacs said. "The train leaves tomorrow morning. We'll be there by lunch." He made to turn away, but words were spilling out of Dan's mouth again.

"If we took my car," he said. "We could leave now." Kovacs looked him over again, maybe suspicious of his motives to be helpful. "Be there by dinner." Silence stretched out between them for an uncomfortable five seconds, but then Kovacs was up and getting his coat. Dan shrugged into his, excitement flaring to life again.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a long drive and it was the dreary part of winter where the snow was dirty and the sky was gray. Kovacs wasn't much of a talker and after their first disagreement over roadmap vs gps, they hadn't spoken for the better part of two hours. They stopped for gas and food and Dan watched him tear into the truck stop burger and pie like he hadn't eaten in days. It was possible he hadn't Dan admitted, taking in the lean frame and drawn face. With the red hair, it made Kovacs look fox-like even if he did eat more like a starving wolf pack. 

"How did you first start with the X-files?" he asked when Kovacs had slowed down enough to speak in between bites. Kovacs didn't answer for a moment, chewing noisily and keeping his eyes on his plate. 

"Kidnapping case," he said after finally swallowing. "Started out as normal as that kind of thing can be, but it kept leading to other cases. Same M.O. over and over." He took another bite and Dan waited again. "Caught the guy," Kovacs went on. "Never found her."

"He wouldn't say?" Dan asked. He wasn't an expert, but it seemed like most of the cases he had heard of had the suspects being more forthcoming once they were caught and getting attention.

"Oh, he said," Kovacs growled. "But it was crazy. Nobody believed it."

"Except you," Dan guessed. Kovacs pinned him with another fiery glare. At this close range, Dan caught a flash of something that wasn't anger behind the flames.

"I was there," he said. Dan was about to ask more, but the the waitress showed up to give them both more coffee and Kovacs' face shut like a vault. When the waitress offered Dan dessert he accepted on impulse and Kovacs was quick to ask for more pie too. Did he think they wouldn't have to talk if they were eating? Dan had a feeling he shouldn't press, so they finished eating in silence. 

It wasn't until they were back in the car that they spoke again. Dan was about to offer a turn at navigating while the gps recharged (he was careful not to call it by name, but if anyone were to overlook eccentricities in a grown man, it should've been Kovacs) when his partner shoved a creased and much-handled photo in his face. It was a girl, a very little girl, with pigtails and snaggleteeth. He turned it over and saw the name written on the back. Age 6. And the date would be ten years ago in March. He glanced at Kovacs who was staring out the window across the parking lot. 

"What did you see?" Dan asked.

"Lights," Kovacs whispered. He hesitated, but then his voice strengthened. "She was there. She wasn't dead. Such…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Such relief. But then the lights came and took her. She was there. The lights swallowed her up. When they disappeared, so did she."

Dan handed the picture back, processing. He started the car as Kovacs tucked the picture away again. They slowly pulled back out onto the highway. 

"What was the guy's story?" Dan asked after awhile.

"That the children were chosen for him. Was compelled to bring them to a certain spot at the right time. Swore he never hurt them. That he didn't know where she was now. Where any of them were. Wasn't allowed to question him myself." Kovacs shrugged. "Attacked him at the scene. When he told me he already knew where to find the next one. When he wouldn't stop laughing."

"Declared insane?" Dan asked. 

"Him?" Kovacs finally looked back at him. "Or me?" Dan gave him a look of his own. It was enough. 

"He died of aneurysm awaiting trail," Kovacs said. "I researched the other cases, looking for any indication of accomplices, anything. Kept finding more. Couldn't all be the work of one man. Couldn't all be related, but they all had a symmetry about them. Always two sides that matched. Somehow. Kept looking. Kept digging. Eventually made it to the basement." Dan felt eyes flick over him again, testing his response. "All in the report. If interested."

The voice of Junius Matthews came from the gps to direct them to an exit. It saved Dan from having to answer right away. Kovacs didn't seem to mind. He went back to staring out the window. 

"Does this case have any of that symmetry you were talking about?" Dan asked once they were on the other road. 

"Not yet," was the gruff answer. "Unless you count the X."


	4. Chapter 4

It was after dark when they got there. They checked into a hotel and then with the local law enforcement. Dan fell into the role of good cop so easily it took him a moment to realize it. He noticed that Kovacs had adopted the stern face of the law and was letting Dan do all the nice-making. Luckily, amiable non-judgement came naturally to Dan, so it was a kind of teamwork. 

They were directed to the Tillman house. It wasn't that late, so they called ahead and the Tillmans agreed to see them. The house was plain and square. The porch lights were on, and Mrs. Tillman let them in. She was a tall sturdy woman and her husband even more so. Mr. Tillman didn't speak, but he raised his eyebrows in greeting and then listened to the conversation behind a newspaper. It didn't take long for Dan to realize why he was staying out of it.

The dog's owner was their daughter, Damson and her relationship with her mother seemed strained. Damson looked to be in her 20s, but hadn't outgrown rolling her eyes and crossing her arms huffily. She reminded Dan of a grounded teenager trying to talk her way out of it and seemed anxious to have her say. 

"I had gone to a birthday party for somebody at work," she said. "Anyway, I rode with a friend and they ended up leaving without me."

"Some friend," her mother grumbled. Damson sighed. 

"I stayed at my coworker's and rode to work with them the next day." she said. "I had a date that night-"

"Date with who?" her mother gasped. "Not that Seams boy again!"

"NO, mother, I met him at the party. He's my boss' cousin. It's fine. We had a nice time, and he brought me home. It was after 10 and I knew you were asleep so I didn't call."

"So you weren't actually missing for those days," Kovacs said. He had been writing away in a little notebook, barely looking up from it. 

"No, no," Damson tucked her hair behind her ears. She sounded put-upon, but resigned to apologize for it forever. "I'm sorry I scared everybody. I don't call home as much as I should. I learned my lesson."

"Where were you the night the dogs were killed?" Dan asked. 

"Oh," she seemed to falter. "I was at another friend's house. She, she lives a few towns over and just moved in, so I was helping her move and keeping her company in a new place, y'know?"

"For three weeks?"

"No! I, I came home and found them and I, I panicked. I ran right back to the car and went back to her place. I didn't know what to do."

"The report said your car was in your driveway the whole time."

"It was! It was her car. She was driving."

"Her name?" Kovacs was writing again. He glanced up and made eye contact. "This friend." Damson licked her lips. 

"Sandy," she said. "Hollis." Dan was tempted to roll his eyes back at her. It may have been the most obvious lie he had ever heard. She might as well have crossed her fingers behind her back.

"You've never mentioned any Sandy before," her mother sputtered. "Certainly not one you'd run off with for days."

"Mother!" Damson grouched like a much younger girl. "You don't know everybody I'm friends with."

"Those poor dogs would've starved if they hadn't been killed."

"Stop it!" Damson snapped. "My neighbor's kid was feeding them."

"You tell your neighbor you're disappearing but not your parents."

"Is it possible this neighbor could've killed them?" Dan asked, just to stop the argument. 

"God, no," Damson said. "She's nine years old. I gave her five bucks and she thought she was rich, y'know?"

Dan remembered that the dead dogs had been thin. That story seemed iffy too. 

"You could've asked us," Mrs. Tillman said. "We would've fed them."

"I'm glad you weren't there," Damson said, tone going sappy. She really was a terrible liar. "Whoever broke in might've hurt you too."

"You don't need to be in that place by yourself. It's too dangerous. Could happen again."

"Mother, stop. I'm grown up now. I'll get a new security system. Change all the locks. It'll be fine."

"Mitch! Tell her she can't stay in that place!"

"Your mother's worried, Damson." Mr. Tillman's voice was weary.

"So what else is new?" Damson snapped. The newspaper lowered a corner for an unamused glare to catch her eye and she apologized. "Is there anything else you need to know?" she asked Dan and Kovacs.

They traded looks and Kovacs shut his book with a snap. 

"Were the dog bodies kept?" he asked.

"No," Mr. Tillman said. "I think they were disposed of at the vet's."

"My poor babies," Damson sighed. 

"MY poor baby," her mother grumbled. Damson glared at her and stood up. "Thank you both for coming," she told the agents. "I'll walk you out."

She led them back out to the car and stood with her hands tucked under her arms in the chill. She fidgeted, looking from them back toward the windows. Her mother's silhouette was there. Damson growled under her breath and then looked sheepishly at the agents. 

"Look," she said. "I know this got completely out of hand. I don't know what happened to the dogs. I had them to keep the folks happy. Protection, y'know. They would do anything to have me move home and be five years old again. I'll stay a few days until they're sick of me being grown up and then head home." She huffed an exasperated breath. "Sorry you had to put up with all that. It's like that all the time. That's why I'm not moving back anytime soon. Dogs or no dogs." She forced a plucky smile that was suddenly crossed by a gush of blood from her nose.

"Whoa!" Dan said. He fumbled for a tissue to give her, but she waved it off, pinching her nose shut.

"It's ok, it's ok," she said. "I get these when I'm upset. It's fine. I'm ok."

"You're sure?" Dan asked. She nodded vigorously as she could holding her nose and then hurried back inside. They watched her go and then got into the car.

"My mom would've seen through that performance," Dan said as they drove away. Kovacs harrumphed and dug a mint from the truck stop out of his pocket. He crunched it noisily.

"You let me ask most of the questions," Dan said. "And I don't know as much about the case. What are you thinking?"

"What are you thinking?" Kovacs challenged. Dan shrugged.

"At first glance, seems like a girl who parties too hard for her folks. She's old enough to be on her own and shouldn't have to rebel anymore, but she's stuck," he said. "I don't buy her hiding out at her friend's for three weeks. That's long enough for the dogs to starve, to lose whatever job she had no matter which of the boss' relatives she's seeing, and to seriously wear out a welcome."

Kovacs made an agreeing noise. 

"So there's the timing, but the dead dogs are the real problem. Somebody came to her house when she was gone, made a mess of the dogs, but didn't steal anything. It's fishy."

"Mm," Kovacs agreed. "Meat packing plant in town. Plenty of people here know their way around a knife." He ate another mint, crunching and smacking at it.

"Feel like eating?" Dan asked and Kovacs nodded. There were a few fast food joints and Dan felt Kovacs turn to stare at him as he drove by them. He didn't want another burger or to hunch over a plastic booth. He wanted to sit at a table and hold a menu. A beer would be nice too, but he wasn't sure if this still counted as being on hours. There was neon in a window farther down the street which turned out to be a Mexican place. The parking lot had several cars on a week night, so it was probably pretty good. 

"Ok?" he asked when they were parked. Kovacs scowled, but got out. 

"Not a fan?" Dan asked, already heading for the door. "Look, if there's nothing you like, we'll stop somewhere else on the way back." Dan hadn't realized how hungry he was until he could smell the cooking. The place was small and busy, but they only had to wait a moment before ushered to a table. 

Kovacs was doing his best to stare down the menu, but perked up a little when he realized he could get Coke in a glass bottle. When the waitress left again, he grumbled something about not knowing what was in half of the selections. Dan bit back a 'just pick something'. Maybe the guy really did live out of a vending machine.

"Do you like spicy?" he asked instead.

"No."

"Cheesy?" The only answer to that was a reluctant mutter, so Dan took it as a yes. He pointed at the menu. "Quesadilla then. Pick whatever fillings you want. Comes with sour cream and avocado salad. Good stuff." Kovacs made another of his sounds and went back to studying the menu like the secret of the universe was hiding somewhere between the puerco pibil and the tamales. Unfazed by aliens and dismembered pets, but as intimidated by unfamiliar food as a picky kid, Dan thought. He hid a smile so Kovacs wouldn't feel made fun of. 

"You didn't tell me what you thought of the interview," he said after they ordered. "Does this fit with any of your other cases?"

"Like you said," Kovacs said. "The timing is the thing. There are plenty of accounts of people losing time. Usually only a few minutes. Sometimes a few days. Three weeks would be the record. And the nosebleed. That's a recurring element as well."

"Do you think she could've been abducted?" Dan asked. If anyone overheard, they might not assume aliens from that.

"Doesn't explain the dogs," Kovacs said. "Eat like this often?" The change of subject threw Dan for a minute. Then he smiled. This was still their first day together, he reminded himself. He felt a little better that he wasn't the only one trying to get to know his partner now, if that's what this was. 

"Yes," he said honestly. "After my mom died, my dad didn't cook. We ate out a lot."

"Died when you were young, then."

"Yeah," Dan nodded. "How about you?"

"Hnh?"

"Your family."

"No." 

"No what?"

"Don't have one." It was way he said it more than anything, as if it was no more a loss than having his tonsils out. Dan blinked at him for what felt like a long time, trying to decide if Kovacs' flat expression was just a mask or if he honestly didn't care.

"I'm sorry," Dan said. He didn't know what else to say. 

"It's fine," Kovacs said, and then their food arrived.


	5. Chapter 5

After they ate, Kovacs wanted to go back to the local police office for more information. Dan had suspected that there was a reason behind how uninterested Kovacs had been in Damson Tillman's story and found himself cautiously curious about what was going on. It was a little late, but they were able to find someone to talk to them. The first thing Kovacs asked was about a Sandy Hollis and the officer they spoke to rolled his eyes. 

"Short for Cassandra," he said. "It's the name on every girl's fake ID in this town. We don't have a bar and the ABC store knows, so they have to take them farther afield to pull it off."

"Ever catch Damson Tillman with one?" 

The officer looked at Kovacs as if he wasn't sure how much they needed to know. Then, he looked at Dan as if to wonder why the hell they were bothering him with this sideshow. The FBI clout must've over-ridden it, because he gave in with a shrug. 

"Miss Damson has been caught with just about everything," he said. "She has herself a reputation, but it was only anybody's business until she hit legal age." Kovacs' head tilted and his eyes narrowed. Dan would've thought he was just thinking everything over if he hadn't seen the flicker. 

"Two other disappearances in surrounding areas in the same time period," he said. "A teenage boy and a much younger one." Dan turned to look at him but managed to keep the 'what?' internal. The officer pursed his lips. 

"The Baker kid runs away from his stepdad every few months," he said it like it really was none of their business, but he was being polite. "They report it when he goes missing and let us know when he shows back up again. It happens more often in summer when he can stay out longer. The little one is most likely with his Ma's boyfriend. He took her car, too. There's a search out on all three." He gave them both another careful looking over. "Anything else I can help you with?"

There wasn't, so they left. Dan remembered to thank the officer who raised his eyebrows and went back to work. Kovacs stalked back to the car. My car, Dan reminded himself, but he didn't talk until they were both buckled in and on the road.

"That's why you wanted to come," he said. He was glad it didn't sound accusatory. He wasn't sure how he really felt about it. "Nothing to do with dead dogs." Kovacs' silence was profound and incriminating. "Why didn't you just say so?" Dan asked. He wasn't angry, he decided. Just tired of being jerked around. By everybody. All the time. 

There was an exhale that might've been a spiteful laugh before Kovacs realized he was serious. His lip curled, but it wasn't a sneer either. Dan was driving and only saw it out of the corner of his eye. It was a grimace of disbelief, fading into unease. Whatever reaction Kovacs had expected, it wasn't that one. 

"Didn't think-" he began, but stopped. 

"What? That I would _mind_?" Dan asked. Ok, maybe he was a little ticked off. "Or believe you? Give me a chance, man." The suspicion was heavier than the silence. Dan tried one more time. "I'm your partner. You don't have to _trick_ me into helping." Kovacs didn't speak but his eyes would've burned holes through steel. Dan didn't look back. They were in the hotel parking lot before there was any answer. 

"Reputation," Kovacs grated. "Has suffered." He met Dan's eyes for a second and the fire was gone. There was nothing but cold and granite in that stare. "Some feel that my interest cheapens the tragedy. Belittles any serious effort to recover the victim. Do more damage than good."

More silence followed that. Dan was getting sick of it.

"They don't know me," he said. "I can do the talking." He made himself smirk a little. "Again." He got out of the car and noticed immediately that the temperature had dropped outside too. The slush was going to be solid ice by morning. Kovacs exhaled a cloud into the cold and looked around the parking lot as if he expected ambush. Finding none there or from Dan, he jerked his collar up over his neck. 

"In the morning then," he said and swept away to his room. Dan sighed and went to his.


	6. Chapter 6

The hotel room was so stuffy that after an attempt to change the setting on the bizarre thermostat, Dan cracked the window despite the chill outside. He was more tired than he had thought. All the excitement of the morning, the day-long drive, the weird interview that now felt like a waste of time, and the unpleasant realization that his partner might really be a paranoid lunatic had left him with a throbbing headache. All he wanted to do was turn off the lights and sit in the dark. 

He took a shower, and it helped a little, but he had to hang the extra blanket over the window to block out the parking lot lights. After that, it was finally dark enough for him to to try and settle in. The darkness helped and soothed the rough edges down. The headache faded. Dan's unease about his orders had ebbed too. Who could blame the higher ups for wanting to keep a tighter leash on such a strange situation as Special Agent Kovacs? And Dan was willing to forgive Kovacs his paranoia too. He had said himself that his reputation wasn't what it had been before the strange got hold of him. Day 1 had been a trip in every since of the word. Day 2 would hopefully be better. 

Now that it was quiet and he was relaxing he started to notice the sounds from outside his room. Someone walked down the hallway. There was a kachunk from the Coke machine around the corner and then the ice machine rattled. A car went by. Something that sounded very much like a police scanner sputtered next door.

"Oh my God," he said aloud to the empty room. Kovacs had a police scanner. What did he think he was going to hear? The disappearances were weeks ago and what were the possible odds that they would turn up just because Damson had? Dan groaned and went to turn the bathroom fan on to drown out any other sounds. He was finally able to doze off, but it wasn't long before he was aware of cold and movement. 

The wind had picked up. The blanket was fluttering around the window and he was cold enough to shiver. He hadn't opened the window that much, had he? He made his eyes squint open again and forced them to focus, then they went wide and he did his best to clamber backwards up the headboard. 

Kovacs was leaning over him, eyes black as ink and every imperfection on the rawboned face standing stark in the weak light. He was terrifying, a cold-eyed specter or angel of death and Dan wasn't even aware that he was sputtering out curses until Kovacs spoke. 

"Language," he said. The gravel and rock salt voice made Dan shudder. He collapsed back on his pillow to try to swallow his heart back into his chest and remember how to breathe. How had Kovacs gotten in with no key? Wasn't there some rule about two agents in the same room? Another gust of wind sent the blanket flapping hard enough to dislodge it from the curtain rod. 

"You came in my window," he realized when he could force the words out. 

"Damson Tillman," Kovacs hissed. "Was spotted in a stolen car, heading up to the quarry."

"What?" Dan sputtered. "So?" He looked at the clock. It was 11:21. He really hadn't been asleep very long. 

"Car may be one child went missing with," Kovacs insisted. "It isn't far. Still time to catch up."

Dan managed to process. Which was worse, being dragged out of bed on a wild goose chase or letting a madman go running off unsupervised? Which one would be more awkward to explain in a report? Would he have to mention the breaking and entering and looming over the bed like Nosferatu? Oh God. What was the point of this exactly? Maybe Tillman and the wayward boyfriend had a thing, had run off together for some alone time. How creepy would it be to catch them in the act and then have to explain that they were following her at all?

The headache was back. Dan ground the heel of his hand against his temple.

"Keys are in my coat pocket," he finally said. "Don't get abducted." He flopped back down like he was going back to sleep, and wouldn't that be nice. The silence after that intensified. Kovacs didn't need to make a sound. He just amplified his presence until Dan could feel his eyeballs like they were nose to nose. It lasted for a whole minute and Dan was almost sweating when Kovacs spoke again.

"My partner," he said. It wasn't exactly a question, but it didn't have his usual stone-walled resolve either. His expression might've even wavered a moment. Dan sighed and sat up. 

"Fine," he groaned. "Let me get dressed." Kovacs started talking again immediately, scurrying around the room and trying to help to hurry him along. Dan wasn't sure what he was talking about and was only half listening. When Dan had his shoes on, he said he would meet him at the car and ducked out the window again. Dan didn't even try to process that. He shut the window and locked it before heading back out. 

In the parking lot, Kovacs picked up his conversation like there had been no lull. It was freezing cold now and it was easier to focus on what he was saying. 

"-got the plate numbers for the missing car and if it's the same one-"

"Then Tillman and the boyfriend are in it together to swipe a toddler?" Dan asked. "What for?"

"At a quarry late at night?" Kovacs said, some of his old snap back. "Only one way to find out." 

So they went. It was snowing. Kovacs had directions scribbled on a his precious road map and read them off to Dan who was awake enough to not be speaking to him anymore. Kovacs didn't seem to mind. He was jittering with the need to be there already, but the road was icy now and Dan had to be careful. Four lanes of road became two and then they turned off that onto a one lane stretch. There was a sign for the quarry and an open gate that probably should've been shut this time of night. The road wound around becoming more rutted and treacherous. To their left, the dark shadow of the quarry yawned on the other side of a rusty guard rail. 

"This place still in operation?" Dan had to ask. Kovacs made an uninterested sound. 

"Left on the dirt road," he said. 

"So we're not going to the quarry," Dan said. "Since we seem to be passing it."

"We're following the tracks, Daniel," Kovacs said, and sure enough, there were signs of a car on the road ahead of them in the snow. It took Dan a second to realize he had been called by his first name, but he didn't have time to give it much thought because there were lights ahead. Headlights, he thought, hoping it wasn't coming this way so that he would have to risk the ditch to get around. He didn't want to back down this slippery nightmare either. How were they going to get back? Hopefully there would be room to turn around once they got to wherever they were going. 

"Uh-oh," he said as the other car came into sight. It wasn't coming down the hill thankfully, but it was stuck in that ditch he had worried about. It was a small car, both doors wide open and all the lights left on. No one was in it or near it as Dan pulled up alongside it. 

"There," Kovacs barked, scrabbling at the door. Dan stopped to let him out and put his car in park. He put his emergency flashers on, and left the engine running to keep it warm. 

"It's the same one!" Kovacs called, checking the license with the number on his notes. He slid over to check inside. "Child's car seat is there. This is the one." He cast around again. Dan had already spotted the footprints going off the road and up the hill in the snow and pointed. Kovacs ran after them, the wind thrashing his long coat around him. Dan grumbled but followed. The wind was biting cold, the hill was steep and slippery, and it was pitch dark away from the headlights. Only the snow gave him any idea where to go. 

Kovacs was out of sight already, but Dan heard him shout something that sounded like 'buddy' and hurried. He caught another glimpse of the coat tail through the trees and then saw what Kovacs had been calling about. A body lay in the snow. It wasn't a child and it wasn't Damson. It was a man, not dressed for the weather at all, sprawled in the snow. His eyes were open, but he didn't seem to be breathing. Dan paused to check his pulse, but didn't feel anything. He glanced at his watch and it was five minutes to midnight. The man was dead. Then, the sky lit up. 

Halogen had nothing on whatever these lights were. They blasted through the trees, casting dizzying gradient shadows, searing Dan's vision into a white haze. He heard another cry from Kovacs and made himself run toward it.


	7. Chapter 7

There was some sort of shockwave. Dan couldn't see where the lights were coming from. He couldn't see where Kovacs had gone. He did know that something had closed around his mind like a fist and squeezed. He knew he was half blinded and frozen in his tracks. He knew that someone had been standing there. 

It was only for a second, but he saw her. The girl, wreathed in light so bright it burned straight through retinas and into the back of the skull. Much younger than Damson Tillman, and much older than the missing boy, she looked exactly as she did in the photograph Kovacs had shown him. It was the girl who had been taken ten years ago. She was back, and she hadn't aged a day. Dan felt fear and amazement flood his mind like vertigo. She was looking in his direction, either at him or through him, but then the lights got even brighter and eclipsed her small, dark form. Then, they blinked out completely, leaving only cold and darkness.

Dan was still dazed and dazzled and he could hear his own breath hissing through his teeth. He didn't know what to do. He had no idea even how to start grasping what had just happened. His fingers ached and his face felt stiff. He hoped it was the shock and he wasn't in the early stages of some kind of stroke. His teeth were chattering, either from fright or the miserable cold. 

Pull yourself together, he told himself. Cling to what you do know. They still had to report the man's body and get back to the warm hotel. It would feel like bliss after this. He turned away from the spot where the lights had been, felt himself stagger. You're all right, he told himself, but when he tried to call for Kovacs his voice was just a croak. What was wrong with him? He got himself moving and finally saw his partner facedown in the snow. Oh God. He broke into a clumsy run, nearly falling in his haste.

He hadn't heard a shot, had no idea what could've taken Kovacs down in all the confusion. Maybe he had seen the girl too and passed out. Dan nearly had. He rolled Kovacs over and was about to pat his cheek to bring him around, but Kovacs was so cold and blue that Dan almost screamed. He went fumbling for a pulse again, swearing under his breath. There it was, weak and fluttering in his throat, but Dan could feel it. His mind was racing, but all the symptoms were filing neatly in his mind where the medical training was kept. 

Hypothermia. Obviously. But? How?? Kovacs' cheekbones looked blistered. Could it be frostbite? It didn't make sense. He lost the pulse for a second and panicked until he found it again. He glanced at his watch to time it, and if he hadn't already been on his knees, he would've fallen again.

it was after 1 am. They had been standing in the cold for over an hour. Kovacs had been laying in it. How was that even possible?? It had only been a few heartbeats and then the stunned aftermath. Nowhere near long enough for exposure to set it. He felt the numbness in his face and hands again. Every part of him ached. 

"All right," he said. "Ok." First things first. They had to get warm, had to get help. Back to the car. Dan didn't know if he would be able to drive, but they had to get out of the cold. He prayed the car hadn't died and that the heat was still going. He didn't understand why it was so hard to lift Kovacs. He shouldn't be so heavy for somebody so lean. It felt like an eternity of clinging and dragging and dropping to get him back to the car. The stolen sedan's lights were still on and Dan's relief at the whirr of his own engine was overwhelming. He crammed Kovacs in through the passenger door and hurried to get in the driver side. 

He held his hands in front of the heater vent until feeling came back and then pressed them to Kovacs' face. It felt like ice. He was breathing, Dan noted, slowly and unsteadily. Remembering his own medical training, Dan wondered if he should try mouth to mouth or using body heat to warm them both. There wasn't room, he decided, and he didn't feel far from passing out himself. And if the car ran out of gas, they would both die.

"Get back to town," he told Kovacs. "Get to a hospital." He had the heater on full blast, but he was still shaking so hard he had to type the hospital into his gps four times to get it right. He couldn't even begin to work his phone, but the steering wheel didn't require any fine motor skills. Dan put the car in reverse and let it coast backwards. Turning to look made him dizzy and hurt his neck, and keeping it between the ditch and the guard rail felt like brain surgery. He decided to err on the side of the guard rail and dinged it a few times rather than get stuck. They finally got to a place wide enough to turn around in and Dan was sure it would easier to dock a space shuttle, but he managed it after what felt like forever. 

After that, he let Matthews' Archimedes voice guide him to the emergency room. He was in sorry shape, but he was able to walk inside and get someone to come help him get Kovacs in. They put him on a warm oxygen mask and had him lay with his feet up until his core temperature rose. He had windburn on his face, but they gave him some salve and told him he wouldn't lose any skin. His partner might not be so lucky, so Dan called in about the stolen car and the man's body and went to see Kovacs. 

Kovacs had been reheated too. He had frostbite on his cheekbones, the tips of his ears and his knuckles and was awake enough to be miserable. 

"How are you?" Dan asked first. "I didn't see what happened to you." Kovacs grumbled and waved a hand. Dan took a breath. "I saw her," he said. Kovacs squinted at him. 

"Tillman?" he asked. Dan shook his head. He tried to put all the words in order before he said them and Kovacs went tight waiting. 

"The girl," he said. "Blair Roche. She was there and then gone, just like you said." Kovacs hadn't moved, so Dan blundered on. "If I was hallucinating, why would I have seen _her_?"

Kovacs had been holding his breath because it all burst out of him. He struggled to get up and out of bed.

"Easy," Dan said, reaching for him. 

"Have to-" Kovacs said. "Should-" but then the blood poured out of his nose and he went completely still to watch it gush over his hands and spatter on his leg.


	8. Chapter 8

The worst part wasn't the blood. Dan didn't ever want to see the bottom fall out of anybody's face like that ever again. Kovacs' expression barely changed, but enough fear to drown in suddenly overflowed out of it. 

"Out," he rasped. "Have to get it out." Dan wasn't sure what he was talking about, but he could see the panic building and felt his own delayed hysteria start to churn in response. He reined it in, held a wad of tissue to Kovacs' nose, and as calmly as possible, led him down the hospital hall by the arm. No one questioned them. They made their way to the pediatric wing and Dan found an unsupervised ultrasound. Quick action had calmed most of Kovacs down, but he was still shaking. Dan just hoped they wouldn't get caught messing with the equipment. At least he knew how to use it. 

There was something there, he realized almost immediately. Maybe an inch long, give or take, and about as big around as a coffee stirrer, it had no business in anybody's sinuses. 

"Get it out," Kovacs hissed immediately. Dan was not going to argue.

"Stay put," he said. "Until I find an extractor. I'll be right back. I promise." The fight or flight beacon was still blinking bright in Kovacs' eyes and Dan didn't want to leave him for long. He wouldn't put it past the guy to hack into his own face with a scalpel if he got his hands on one. Luckily, Dan was able to find an extractor. Kovacs was still sitting on the examination table, clutching his arms and looking more like a nervous child than a deranged federal agent. 

"You probably shouldn't be awake for this," Dan said, but he didn't hesitate and Kovacs tilted his head with a huff of relief instead of trepidation. It was a horrible twist and clench and Dan had to work to not think of the scene from Total Recall when he could finally grab whatever the thing was and pull it out. Another gush of blood went unnoticed as they both stared at the piece in the extractor's grip. Dan had no idea what it was. He turned it in the light. 

"What will you do with it?" Kovacs had recovered quickly once it was out.

"I have no idea." It was the truth.

"Taking this too well," Kovacs said. "Suspicious."

"What?"

"Didn't even hesitate. Went straight for it. Should have placated. Disbelieved. Denied." Kovacs quivered, but most of his expression was hidden behind the handful of soaked tissues. "Either too good of a spy or-"

"Shut. Up." Dan said. "It's all I can do not to scream and shake you. All right? I want to puke every time I think about it. But my options are few. Either I saw it or I didn't and I'm pretty sure I saw it. I'm exhausted and maybe not thawed all the way out. I could be crazy as a hoot owl and hallucinated the whole thing, but I didn't imagine chilblains or frostbite. I could always suspect you right back. You could've killed those dogs and set this all up to validate your work or for God knows what reason. This thing." He held the implant up. "Could've been in your head for years for all I know."

Kovacs was silent behind the bloody tissue now, just watching him. 

"OR," Dan went on, pocketing the implant and handing a fresh handful of tissue over. "I can accept that something happened even if I don't know what and I would need blinders a mile across not to see that you were right about most of it. You were right about the disappearances, you were right about Damson, the stolen car, all of it. You were right that there would be something up your nose. I'm not entirely stupid. Or blind. And I'm not going to pretend I am. For anybody."

They glared at each other for awhile longer. They were both too tired and hungry to keep it up for long. Dan held out a hand. Kovacs took it and was pulled to his feet. 

"Let's get out of here."

The police were there. So were Damson's parents and a harried-looking young woman in a hoody three sizes two big. She was the missing boy's mother, and the live-in girlfriend of the man they had found in the woods. She kept being pushed aside as the police asked questions and the Tillmans demanded explanations, so Dan turned away from all of them to speak to her. 

"We never saw the baby," he said. Her sad eyes went sadder and her mouth pulled tight against a wobble. "We found your boyfriend when we were following Damson, but-"

"How dare you," snapped Mrs. Tillman. Her voice made Dan wince. It reminded him of industrial blades. She did work at a slaughter plant. Maybe it was a good match. "You have no proof Damson had anything to do with this."

"Spotted in the car," Kovacs told her. "Child goes missing every time she does. She comes back. The children don't."

"You're insane!" she shrilled. "Damson's a good girl." Kovacs had been called that enough that it barely registered as an insult, but Dan felt something click into place. So much of this didn't make any sense to him, but angry, controlling parents, a runaway daughter, useless guard dogs, and a job with knives suddenly did. 

"Is that why you killed her dogs?" Dan asked. "To scare your good girl into staying home? Or just to punish her for not being there when you came by?" She gaped. Kovacs turned to look at him. So did the rest of the room. "You had the knives and the know-how," he said. "And the keys to her place. The dogs would've known you, wouldn't have put up a fight. Nothing was taken. It makes sense."

"Both insane!" Mrs. Tillman screamed. She had gone very red and her husband stepped in between them. 

"I will not have have you upsetting my wife," he said, slowly and carefully. "A man is dead and our daughter is missing."

"So is my son," the girlfriend said. Mr. Tillman seemed reluctant to look at her. Mrs. Tillman hissed something under her breath. "If you know any reason why," the girl said, tears plain in her voice. "Please tell me."

"I don't," he said. "I'm sorry." A grip on Dan's arm steered him away from that conversation to one with the police. Kovacs was inching them both to the door. They gave all the information that was needed and headed to the car as soon as they were able. It was 10:13. If they hurried, they could still check out of the hotel on time and get something to eat once they were out of town. 

"Hungry?" Dan asked. 

"Starving."

"First sign we see outside city limits then."

"Agreed."

It turned out to be a Chinese buffet, which didn't thrill Kovacs any more than the Mexican place, but the sign clearly said that there were over 100 items. Dan reasoned that there had to be at least one Kovacs could eat. That optimism earned a surly 'hurm' but Kovacs ate hungrily once he tried something. They talked a little on the way back. Kovacs dozed most of the way and never offered to take a turn driving. They got home after midnight. Dan dropped Kovacs off at a corner as he insisted. There were a few apartment buildings nearby, but after a quick 'see you tomorrow' he swept off without heading toward any of them. Dan was too tired to care and went to his own place.


	9. Chapter 9

Soon, Dan was in another meeting in the Section Chief's office. He found himself unmoved by their obvious displeasure. Kovacs attitude must've rubbed off, or maybe having a partner had given Dan solid ground to dig his heels into.

"Agent Dreiberg," Section Chief Gardner finally said. "We've all seen your report and it seems to be inconclusive."

"With both the child and Ms. Tillman still missing and no definite cause of death for Miles Williams, there hasn't been a clear conclusion to the case," Dan said. "I can only substantiate my own experiences at this time." 

"Like the time loss?" Gardner raised an eyebrow. "Your report is subjective at best, Agent Dreiberg, and reveals no proof of the legitimacy of this or any previous investigations." Dan drew breath to answer, but Gardner kept going. "There is a missing woman, a missing child, a dead man, and no real evidence that they are connected."

"There's this," Daniel produced the implant device. He didn't know if Kovacs had mentioned it in his report so didn't name names. "These have been found in several people involved with the case. Williams had one and Tillman had symptoms of having one. I had an x-ray myself to be safe."

"Did you?" asked Gardner.

"I've had my head examined," Dan said, smiling. "They couldn't find anything wrong." He set the implant down on the desk. Gardner looked at it and then back at him. 

"Thank you, Agent Dreiberg," he said. "That will be all."

Glad to get away, but not sure if it went well, Dan turned and opened the door. Someone was there who pushed inside past Dan with what could've been a mock wink. Dan caught a blast of fresh cigar smoke and a glimpse of cold, hard grin. Then the door shut in his face and Dan went on down the hall. 

Kovacs was waiting around the corner, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. He was watching a nervous man restock the coke machine with an intensity that belonged on a predatory bird. He fell into step beside Dan on the way to the elevator. 

"How did it go?" he asked, leaning too close. Dan shrugged.

"Until Damson or the kid shows up, it's all inconclusive," Dan said. "Have you heard anything?"

"Possibly an explosion at the quarry," Kovacs said. "Miles Williams used to work there. Some attempt made to turn the blame on him, but they ruined it by cremating him against his family's wishes. His autopsy reports haven't turned up yet either." Dan made a sound of disbelief, but it was Kovacs' turn to shrug. He was used to being thwarted, Dan realized, in a thousand stupid, underhanded ways that should've been obvious to anyone who actually wanted to know. It hadn't stopped him yet. The elevator opened and Dan pushed the button.

"So what's on the burner for today?" he asked to change the subject. 

"Something warmer," Kovacs said. "Arizona. Gila Flats. There's a physics testing lab rumored to be haunted." 

"By what?" Dan asked as the doors opened and they stepped out. 

"Physicist that died working on some particle subtractor is showing back up," Kovacs said. He was already gathering up files for the trip. "Parts of him anyway. It's a government facility, so we got clearance to go in, but only because they want us to find some sort of sabotage conspiracy if there is one."

"Rather have saboteurs than ghosts?" Dan started getting ready too. 

"Easier to prosecute, I imagine." Kovacs said it so matter-of-factly that Dan had to laugh. Kovacs twitched an almost smile too. 

"I don't have to drive this time do I?" Dan asked and Kovacs went stone-faced again. 

"I don't like air travel," he said. "But it's the only way to get there within our timeframe."

"I wanted to be a pilot, y'know," Dan said as they started out again. Kovacs nodded the assent of a man who had read every file available on Dan. 

"Have a plane?" he asked.

"Well, no. I wish."

"Have to rely on commercial flights then." Kovacs said. Dan blinked at him, wondering if that was a confession of confidence or just another of his partner's unexplained quirks. Either way, ghost-hunting in Arizona might chase the chill of the quarry woods off and an afterlife would be more comforting to find out about than alien abductors. They headed out to the parking lot and if there was anyone watching them from the windows, Dan didn't look back.


End file.
